


azula, avatar

by Sodium_K



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Avatar Azula (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar) Have a Good Relationship, Badass Katara (Avatar), Dead Aang (Avatar), Gen, Happy Azula (Avatar), My Brother Offered To Beta This But I Keep Forgetting To Send Him The Doc, No Beta We Transcend This Mortal Plane Like Yue, Yue (Avatar) Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27917221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sodium_K/pseuds/Sodium_K
Summary: Eleven-year-olds shouldn’t have to worry about if their father will succeed in killing them, right? Right. Well, Azula was eleven, and she was worrying about it. You see, Firelord Ozai had been dead set on eliminating the Avatar, but after twenty-five years had come and gone since the death of the last Avatar, Ozai had begun to believe that the Avatar cycle had been broken. However, Azula (who had just clearly airbent in front of most of the fire nation nobility) was very sure that that particular idea wasn’t entirely true.
Relationships: Azula & Iroh (Avatar), Azula & Katara (Avatar), Azula & Suki (Avatar), Azula & Toph Beifong, Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 2
Kudos: 55





	1. Fatherly Affection Doesn't Cover Everything

Eleven-year-olds shouldn’t have to worry about if their father will succeed in killing them, right? Right. Well, Azula was eleven, and she was worrying about it. You see, Firelord Ozai had been dead set on eliminating the Avatar, but after twenty-five years had come and gone since the death of the _last_ Avatar, Ozai had begun to believe that the Avatar cycle had been broken. However, Azula (who had just clearly airbent in front of _most_ of the fire nation nobility) was very sure that that particular idea wasn’t entirely true. Seemingly frozen in place, she slowly looked up into the shocked faces of the nobles. She gulped nervously as her father rose from his seat, emotions warring on his face; his ingrained hatred for the Avatar, but also shock and sadness that the thing he’d been _raised to hate_ (and raised his children to hate) was his own _daughter_. His hatred won over, and he shoved the nobles aside as he walked towards Azula.

Her feet were glued to the ground, and all she could do was stare as her father approached her, his hands balled into fists. Zuko, however, took a different course of action and did what he had always done; shield Azula from their father’s wrath. Usually, that just meant lying and taking the blame for Azula’s mistakes, but this time he hit Azula at a dead sprint, grabbing her by the armpits and dragging her along with him. He didn’t look back once. By the time Azula snapped out of it, they were nearing the huge doors that led out to town. She could hear shouts from Fire Nation soldiers as she wrestled herself free from Zuko’s grip. She couldn’t see his face, but he stopped his protest as she sped towards the doors on her own.

The door guards moved to stop her, but when she shot a ball of flame at them, they stepped back on instinct. The two siblings squeezed through the doors and went straight down the steps, taking them two, sometimes three at a time. They careened off of the steps and turned onto a street. When their chests burned, their breaths ran ragged, and they couldn’t run for any longer, Zuko pulled Azula into an alley and behind the dumpster. Soon after, the reality of what had gone down caught up to Azula, and before she knew it, there were tears making their way down her cheeks. Zuko noticed the wetness on her face, and silently pulled her into a hug, holding her close as she cried as quietly as she could.

They weren’t there for long before they could hear the _clanking_ of the Fire Nation soldiers. The siblings pushed themselves into a standing position and left through the other side of the alley. They didn’t get too far, very quickly finding themselves surrounded by soldiers. Zuko put his arm in front of Azula when one of the guards leveled his sword at them.

“Prince Zuko… Azula. You will come with me, back to the palace.” Zuko raised his hands, preparing to fight, but before anybody could say anything, a figure stepped out from the crowd, slipping between the guards.

“Admiral Zhao,” Iroh said, holding his hands up in a non-threatening position, “perhaps I should be the one to escort these two back to the palace? After all,” he looked over his shoulder at the two of them, and in that moment, they understood what was going to happen, “they _do_ trust me more.” Taken aback, Admiral Zhao stopped to consider, and the three now-fugitives took that hesitation as an opening to attack the guards. The seven guards went reeling, trying to beat away the hungry flames clinging to their clothes, and Iroh, Zuko, and Azula took that chance to escape in the confusion.

Admiral Zhao recovered much faster than they would’ve liked, and he was racing after them in barely over a minute. They were all running for the docks when another group of guards stopped them, this time led by Firelord Ozai himself.

He wasted no time in attacking. Zuko watched in what seemed like slow-motion as his father raised his hand and pointed it directly at Azula as red-hot tongues of fire blossomed from Ozai’s fingers. Zuko knew it would hurt far worse than anything he had ever experienced. He also knew he couldn’t hesitate.

So he didn’t.

Zuko acted faster than he thought was possible, leaping and pushing his sister away, allowing the flames to ravage the side of his face. He screamed at the agony (he had no doubts that his throat would ache and his voice would be hoarse later) and as he fell to the ground, he was only aware of two things; the foul, invasive odor of burnt flesh, and Azula screaming. The world went black.

Iroh, Ozai, and Azula would forever be stunned at just how fast Zuko had moved, but there was no time for that. Azula watched in horror as her brother fell to the ground, limp, and she began to feel herself detaching from the world. A jolt of heat (far hotter than any fire) coursed through her body – she was so very angry, and the rage went far past her father hurting Zuko. She was mad at her father, she was mad at her grandfather for killing her nameless, faceless selves twice before, and she was Aang, and she was _indescribably pissed_ at Sozin for massacring the Air Nomads – her people. Dimly, she registered her feet lifting off the ground, and the wind picking up, and somebody that was her and Aang and her two nameless selves and someone that was none of them cried out.  
“How _dare_ you!”   
***  
Azula woke up with her cheek pressed against cold metal. She began to feel the rough, uncomfortable movement of the metal, so she sat up. A blanket fell off of her, and she got a faceful of sea spray. Her sputtering caused the man at the front of the boat - Iroh - to turn around. At the sight of Azula, Iroh smiled, happy but small, still weighed down by fear, worry, sadness. His eyes were red.

“What -” Azula started to ask, but her mouth was dry and her throat hurt and she choked on her words. Iroh knew what she was asking. (He always did.)

“You knocked Ozai out cold, and everyone else either fainted or fled. I took you and -” he glances at a trembling heap of blankets and suddenly Azula realizes why he looks so worried. She moves closer to her brother. “- and Zuko and I ran to the docks. You were still in the Avatar state, but when you saw that your brother was still breathing, you calmed down. I stole a boat, and here we are.” Azula still has no idea how much time has passed. Instead of asking, she touches her throat, and Iroh realizes, taking a small pouch from his robe and hands it to her. She begins to drink, but the realization that their drinkable water is definitely scarce stops her after a few steps. She places a hand on where she guesses Zuko’s shoulder to be, and hopes for the best.

His face has been hurting for a while, too much for him to sit up and do anything about it, so he just lies still. The constant jostling isn’t helping either. There is a constant buzzing in his left ear, and since he is on his right side, all sounds are warped and strange. The boat suddenly rocked more than what was normal, the sounds temporarily became more consistent, and he soon felt the lightest of pressure on the side of his chest. (Right above his heart.) The pressure was warm and comforting, and when whoever it was began to slowly rub him (probably trying to reassure him) he allowed it to lull him back into slumber.

He woke up far too soon, and he was gently guided into a sitting position. Instinctively, he went to rub the sleep out of his eyes, but his hands were quickly grabbed.

“You don’t want to --- ---” Iroh said, “Touching it --- --- --- area.” Zuko tilted his head in confusion.

“Huh?” Iroh turned to look at someone just outside his field of vision, and when Zuko turned his head to look, he saw Azula, sitting at the front of the boat.

“Zuko, you --- not --- --- hear --- well, but I need to --- your bandages.” What Iroh said, combined with the fact that Zuko had seen his lips move but not heard any sound, caused the ex-prince to panic. He reached for his left ear, trying to feel that side of his face. The back of his hand brushed against some cloth, and even that slight touch made bile rise in his throat. He whimpered, and Iroh pulled his hands away from his face, leaning in to his right side. 

“Zuko, I know that you’re confused by what’s going on, but I just need you to relax while I check your bandages.” Zuko tried to relax, he sat back while his uncle slowly unwound the cloth, gritting his teeth when the motions felt like he was being stabbed. 

Zuko was not a very lucky guy. As soon as the cloth was off, the boat hit a nasty wave, and at least a cup of saltwater hit him square in the face. The bile that had been sitting in the back of his throat came forward, and suddenly he was on his knees, vomiting as he clutched his head in his hands and wailed. He was aware of his uncle leaning forward, and maybe Iroh said something to Azula, maybe he didn’t, but Azula was there anyways, rubbing circles into his back and trying her best to soothe him. He wasn’t sure how long he had stayed like that, but the pain had made it hard for him to think. He could tell, only slightly, that Azula and Iroh were gently, gently cleaning and redressing his wound as best they could, talking to him all the while, saying such soothing things that he just couldn’t understand. He registered that he was being laid down onto something slightly more comfortable than the bench of the boat, and one of them had covered him with a blanket. He stared at the sky, unable to sleep, and when one of his hands fell from under his blanket, somebody took it.


	2. This Chapter Took Me Over A Month To Write

They floated along for the next two days, occasionally using bending to propel themselves as much as possible (which didn’t do much, because the only bending that had an effect was Azula’s airbending and waterbending. Which she couldn’t control very well.) The three fire nation deserters finally arrived on an island. None of them recognized the island, but something about it made a lead pit form in their stomachs. 

As Iroh pulled the boat onto a small lip of rock, Zuko and Azula stared upwards, looking at the sheer rock cliffs with apprehension. They obviously were no longer on Fire Nation land, and the utter inaccessibility of the island made them fear the worst. 

The worst, specifically, was that they had arrived at the Western Air Temple. 

They had, in fact, arrived there, which they were soon to find out, after Azula had used firebending to propel herself up the cliff. She landed with ease, giving Zuko and Iroh a sign to let them know that she had landed safely. She turned to look at the rest of the island, blood freezing when she saw that she was at the Western Air Temple. She called out to her uncle and brother, but any response was drowned out by fear and panic and sadness and death and above all, fire. Fire burning everything, wiping them all out, destroying the peace and calm so common with the Air Nomads. She’d seen it happen, lived through most of it, and now, one hundred years later, Aang was facing what was left of his people. She stepped forward shakily, one foot after the other, until she found herself outside of a building. Azula stepped inside, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes as she slowly looked over the scorch marks that littered the walls. 

She continued deeper into the building, stopping to listen closely when she heard a noise. After further investigation, she came to the conclusion that the noise she was hearing was _breathing_. At this discovery, Azula decided to leave the building and wait for Iroh and Zuko to catch up with her. When they did, she pointed out the noise she was hearing from inside the building. Iroh was all for leaving it alone, as it might not want to be disturbed, but Zuko wanted to investigate it, because maybe it needed help. 

Accompanied by her uncle and brother, Azula re-entered the building, walking slowly and stepping lightly. After going through a couple of doorways and down a couple of halls, they ended up in a larger, circular room. The room was completely bare except for some debris and smoke marks on the walls - or so it seemed. The three of them looked around the room, and Azula was the first to find it - a young _air bison_ , the species that was thought to be extinct, killed in the massacre a century ago. 

There it was, though, snoring contentedly by the wall. Azula, spurred on by Aang, walked closer to it, patting it on the nose once she reached it. It woke up, sniffed Azula, and licked her. She giggled and wiped some of the saliva off of her face, before turning and saying,

“I think he’s nice!” After a second, Zuko broke out into a grin, walking over to the air bison and petting him. The bison ducked his head to make it easier, closing its eyes contentedly. Iroh smiled at them, and something whispered in the back of Azula’s mind. “He’s meant to help us.” Iroh quickly became confused,

“How do you know this?” He asked.

“Avatar Aang told me.” Iroh accepted this fact, turning to look around the room. The only way out that the bison might’ve been able to fight through was a window - that had been covered with debris. He pointed this out to the siblings, who looked at each other, and then looked at the window, moving over to try and clear it.

The three of them managed (somehow), and the air bison left through the window joyfully, flying a loop in the air before going back to the window, stopping under it. Azula smiled widely and jumped through the window, landing on his back, completely ignoring Zuko and Iroh’s shocked shouts. She turned to them, inviting them to join her on the bison (both of them turned down the offer, choosing to leave the building the old-fashioned way). She shrugged as if to say “your loss”, and patted the bison, yelping joyfully and grabbing onto his fur as he flew off. 

Zuko stared up at the bison, doing loops in the sky, accompanied by his younger sister’s joyful whoops.

“Do you think we’ll ever see her again?” His uncle shrugged.

“I doubt it.”

By the time they got back down to their boat, Azula was waiting there with the bison, who had somehow been equipped with a saddle and reins. Sitting up at the bison’s head, she mockingly saluted her travelling companions.

“All aboard!” She shouted, and Iroh shared a look with Zuko before helping him climb up the bison’s side. Once they had gotten comfortable, Azula jostled the reins with a ‘yip yip!’ and they were off, flying through the sky.

“So,” Zuko shouted, trying to make himself heard over the wind, “what’s with the bison? Where are we going?” Azula laughed at him (but more good-naturedly than her previous laughs, less mocking).

“C’mon Zuzu, who do you think is gonna teach me to airbend? There aren’t any Air Nomads left!” Zuko pursed his lips and thought on it, before shrugging.

“Alright then. You didn’t answer my-”

“The one place that wouldn’t turn us over to the Fire Nation, would be willing to house us, and would be able to fight off any invasions!” Azula interrupted.

“Huh?” (Iroh looked almost as lost as Zuko, and Azula turned fully around, not caring about pointing the bison in the right direction.)

“Kyoshi Island, Zuzu! Who better to house us than the followers of one of my past lives?” _Hmpf_. She had a point. Zuko shrugged and, chilled by the wind, settled down beneath the lip of the saddle. Azula turned back around, picking the reins back up, and they flew the rest of the way in comfortable silence.


End file.
